A group of collegiate basketball players in B.C. say they will not play a pair of games against another team in their division this weekend due to alleged verbal and physical mistreatment of a transgender teammate they say has not been addressed.

All 13 players on the Vancouver Island University Mariners squad have signed a letter saying they do not feel safe playing at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C.

Mackenzie, who is transgender, said the visiting team’s coach, Taylor Claggett, went on a “tirade” after losing on Oct. 25, yelling at a Mariners staff member about how Mackenzie shouldn’t be allowed to play against women. A social media account linked to Claggett also posted anti-trans messages after the game.

The two sides played again on Oct. 26 and Mackenzie claimed her opponents physically targeted her. She shared a video from the game where, away from the ball, a Columbia player tosses Mackenzie to the ground.

  • n2burns
    9·
    1 day ago

    I really wish people would be civil, and I do believe trans rights are human rights.

    The thing that bugs me most is the coach’s inappropriate outburst, and the lack of response by PACWEST. I know trans people in sports is a contentious issue, but presumably Harriette is an eligible player. If you don’t like the rules, you should get made at the rule makers, not your opponents. And PACWEST’s silence is deafening. From the sounds of it, the coach’s actions would have resulted in disciplinary actions if the subject was different.

    • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      4·
      1 day ago

      From the sounds of it, the coach’s actions would have resulted in disciplinary actions if the subject was different.

      Yup. Any other sport and a coach does that? They’re sanctioned, no doubt about it.

      Same as that player. She should have been banned for that show of violence.